Glendale couple safely off stranded Carnival cruise ship

After roughing it on crippled ship, passengers eager for hot food and a shower

by Dawn Gilbertson - Nov. 12, 2010 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

Passengers on the Carnival Splendor cruise ship should be sipping margaritas in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, today but instead are back in the U.S. sharing stories of their crippled cruise to nowhere that captured the world's attention this week.

The mammoth ship, which lost power on Monday after an engine-room fire, was towed into San Diego on Thursday morning to cheers, a media horde and souvenir T-shirt sales. All 3,299 passengers were off by afternoon and bused to Long Beach, Calif., where the cruise started, to the airport or to hotels in San Diego.

Some called it the vacation from hell and said they'll never cruise again. Others were merely inconvenienced and already planning the free cruise Carnival is offering to all passengers, in addition to a refund for the doomed trip.

Most had the same post-cruise cravings: hot showers, a good meal and coffee.

"We have not had a hot cup of coffee in four days," said passenger Fahizah Alim, 26, of Sacramento, who ate at night by flashlight. "This was my first cruise, and it was no luxury, no fun."

Janell Kennedy couldn't wait to get her hands on a grande caramel frappuccino from Starbucks and anything to eat but a cold sandwich.

Her husband, Chad, wanted the lobster he was so looking forward to on their vacation.

The Glendale couple, on their first trip alone since their honeymoon six years ago, were hoping for a relaxing weeklong getaway from their jobs and 19-month-old son. Instead, they got a trying but tolerable trip.

"What bugged me the most were the lines and really not being fulfilled with the food the way you wanted to be," Janell said. "And you wished you could have coffee. People wanted coffee like nothing else. Coke isn't quite the same in the morning as coffee is."

Kennedy, a technical writer, doesn't describe the trip as a nightmare or hell on water. Or even "camping on the ocean," as one passenger described it to the San Diego Union-Tribune. She prefers to call the 4 1/2 days on board after the fire "adventurous."

She and Chad had an inside cabin and were literally in the dark every day but Sunday, the day the ship left Long Beach. It was the only day they had a hot meal in the ship's Black Pearl restaurant and a nighttime soak in the hot tub.

They were awakened early Monday morning by a shaking that grew stronger.

"It didn't bother me enough to get me out of bed," Janell said.

They knew something was wrong, however, when a crew member announced over the loudspeaker that a generator was out.

Passengers were called to the upper decks and spent several hours there. They saw smoke coming through the cabins and a lot of smoke in the hallways.

"Even late into the evening, there was heavy smoke being blown out the middle of the ship," Janell said.

She said that first day was the most chaotic as Carnival's crew scrambled to get a handle on the situation. Toilets didn't work in their cabin or in the public areas of the ship.

"It was kind of gross," she said. "That was probably the most dire."

All she remembers about the food that day was Carnival scrambling to put out little sandwiches and cereal boxes.

Peg Fisher of Las Vegas, who was on her first cruise with her husband, said, "This could be the only cruise ever where people lost weight instead of gaining weight."

Cold hot-dog salad

The food got more creative as the days went on, with a cold hot-dog salad one day, smoked bagels another and cold barbecue meatballs on Wednesday.

They never ate or were offered Spam, said Janell, despite pictures of the processed lunch meat being loaded onto the stranded ship. Carnival said Thursday that, despite media reports, no passengers were served Spam.

"We were really well taken care of, for what they were able to do," she said.

Echoing the comments of other passengers, Janell said she and her husband didn't panic.

She praised the crew for their constant updates and singled out the cruise director for injecting some humor into the situation.

"I don't think I saw anybody who was panicking," she said. "I think everybody kind of understood they were doing everything they could."

In the next few days, long lines for food and finding something to do were the biggest challenges.

"That was the downside to the whole thing. You couldn't do anything," she said. "The pools and Jacuzzis were cold (and eventually drained.)"

She and her husband spent a lot of time playing card games.

"People were playing cards all over the place," she said.

She felt worse for the kids on the ship who were looking forward to splashing down the water slides.

Unlike the usual non-stop activities on cruises, there was only sporadic entertainment, such as a piano player. On Wednesday, Carnival offered free bingo, which was a hit.

Janell said one of the highlights while they were adrift was the food drop by the military and the planes landing on the nearby aircraft carrier.

Passengers were generally in a good mood, Janell and others said, with lots of laughing. There were even more laughs when Carnival started serving free beer.

Things didn't get somewhat tense until Wednesday.

"Nerves were getting raw the last day," she said.

After they arrived in San Diego, the Kennedys took a bus to Long Beach, where their car was parked.

Chad was desperate to find a Red Lobster before the drive home after missing out on the highlight lobster dinner on board ship, but the couple settled for a Sizzler, where they devoured steak and unlimited shrimp.

Carnival is paying for travelers' transportation and parking, and the Kennedys, like all passengers, will get back the estimated $1,300 they paid for the cruise plus a voucher for a future Carnival trip equal to the amount they paid for the ill-fated cruise.

They hope to reschedule their vacation for February.

Will their rescheduled cruise be on the Splendor?

"Maybe not this ship. Maybe another one," Janell said.

Her parents, who live in Peoria, also had to change their cruise plans because of the fire. They were due to sail on the Splendor on Sunday, the day their daughter and son-in-law got off the ship. Carnival has offered passengers on that cruise a refund and 25 percent off a future cruise.

Sabrina Klinge, a passenger who was onboard the Carnival Splendor cruise ship for her honeymoon, leaves the ship terminal on Thursday. The ship, which lost power on Monday after an engine-room fire, had to be towed to San Diego.